Mother, Partner Charged With 8-Year-Old Boy's Demise; Lied About His Death

The body of Keyontae Holzendorf was discovered in a Texas hotel room with multiple "injuries to his head, neck, and abdomen, with ligature marks on his wrists and ankles, and missing skin where duct tape was removed," according to his autopsy.

Kayla Holzendorf and her common-law spouse, Dominique Lewis, are accused with child abuse and tampering with evidence and are still in custody.

According to authorities, the pair stated that they "don't know what happened" to Keyontae after his death. Before they discovered the child lifelessly, the mother claimed they sent him to get a bath while she and her partner had sex.

However, in February and three weeks before his murder, a passerby spotted the child outside a grocery shop and reported him to police, claiming that he was being abused.

In some of the last photos of Keyontae, they videotaped him chatting with police, who had submitted the matter to Child Protective Services.

His mother lied and said the injuries were caused by her son falling off his bike.

However, according to a recent autopsy, his injuries "were not consistent with falling off a bike." Keyontae was stated to have "numerous scars on his back indicative of belt whippings," according to emergency staff.

According to the reports, his mother blamed it on a past boyfriend.

Before reporting a drowning, officials suspected Kayla and Lewis transferring Keyontae's body to the hotel bathtub.

The authorities verified physical abuse and neglect after Keyontae's death.

Children-At-Risk CEO Dr. Bob Sanborn told ABC13, "Here is a case where we had a child who was abused and because not enough investigation went on, they really reunited the child with his abuser.”

He continued saying, "Can you imagine? This was hell for this young boy. This was sort of worst-case scenario and as you read this report, you're devastated for him.”

"The DFPS investigation into Keyontae Holzendorf's death is closed. The department does conduct separate internal reviews of case handlings, but the details of those are not public records," DFPS media specialist Melissa Lanford told ABC13.

Sanborn believes that the system failed Keyontae and that the boy deserves justice.